Government resources are some of the most valuable sources of information for professional writers. More often than not, there is information on government websites or in government archives that is simply not accessible elsewhere. Some information that is available via government resources includes: laws and legislation, press releases, statutes and regulations, historical documents, research and statistics compiled by governmental agencies, and more.
Government resources are primarily regarded as highly official and reliable sources: though some fact-checking may be required, it is generally assumed that the information acquired from official government resources is accurate and reliable.
Information in government archives also has the benefit of being both very current—stories not yet picked up or otherwise overlooked by the media—or very old, with records dating back further than it may be possible to research using other methods.
Types of Resources
There are various types of resources available for government research. The primary source for governmental information is government websites and archives. In Canada, these can be divided into three categories: provincial, federal, and municipal. Some resources fall into more than one of these categories, and are therefore cross-jurisdictional.
The Government of Canada website is a primary resource for information about the Government of Canada and its programs, services, initiatives, and products. It is updated on a continuous basis to match the evolving requirements of its Canadian and international public.
How To Search 1. As a starting point, the Government of Canada’s website has a site map link at the bottom left of the home page that directs you to a series of links that make up the entirety of the website. They are organized by headings such as:
Help
Home page
Resource Centre, and
Search
and categorized by more specific subheadings such as About Government, Elections, Federalism, etc.
TIP: A professional writer who is interested in researching an aspect of Canada’s government should start in the Research Centre by browsing the keywords in the A to Z Index.
2. To use the search bar, you simply plug in a keyword of what you are trying to get more information on. By pressing enter, several pages of links with the keyword highlighted will show up for you to browse through.
If this does not yield the kind of results you are looking for, there is an Advanced Search link beneath the search command. The Advanced Search page helps narrow your search by asking for the following information:
3. Finally, there is a Help on Search page that explains:
the default search behaviour
a basic search compared to an advanced search
the differences between the two through examples
how to search within a document, and
how to use advanced search operators, such as exact phrase matching, wildcards, and boolean operators.
A professional writer who is familiar with these search techniques will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their searches.
Canada at a Glance is a booklet put out by Statistics Canada that is also available online at www.statcan.gc.ca. It is a resource for information including the current demographic, education, health and aging, justice, housing, income, labour market, household, economic, travel, financial, agricultural, international trade, and environmental statistics. The database is updated yearly and is a useful resource for quick access of Canadian statistics and international comparison.
How To Search The search bar is a located underneath the website’s header. Clicking it will take you to the search page which has several options to both specify your search and offer resources that inform you on how to make a better search.
1. One of these resources is the Advanced search link that takes you to a page where you can make a more specific, concrete search. The advanced search offers options such as:
Include pages with:
all these words
this exact wording
all of these words
and limits the search to:
type (tables, maps, articles, etc.)
resource (The Daily, Census, publications, students and teachers, etc.)
and subject (Aboriginal, agriculture, business, education, health, etc.)
as well as sorting pages according to their publication dates.
Each category of explanation includes step-by-step instructions on how to conduct the search with images visually representing the steps, along with specific examples to show what kind of results appear for certain types of searches.
TIP: The search commands information teaches you the best way to go about a search that is useful for nearly all search engines, including Boolean operators, phrase search, and Metadata field searches.
3. The Help: Search the site page includes a link titled Search brochure, which is a red rectangular link at the top right of the page. This feature is a summarized 12-step informational brochure on how to make an effective and efficient search with a PDF download.
4. The Specialized search tools page is a collection of links to more specialized resources, categorized by: find data, find publications and reports, and helpful tools. Each link is connected to a URL and is accompanied by a sentence description of what the resource contains.
5. Finally, there is the Statistics Canada Thesaurus which is a list of subject terms that Statistics Canada uses to describe its information resources. To browse, you can use a search bar, select subject alphabetically, or browse by subject. The About the Thesaurus link offers information about the scope, language, term format, and structure of the thesaurus.
The website for the Province of BC has two immediate options for navigation: a "carousel" navigation bar, and an option for searching services, forms, and ministries. The carousel offers top-lvel information such as news sources from the BC Newsroom, as well as access to BC government information, job plan, employment, and agendas.
The A-Z index allows you to search within Services, Forms, and Ministries. However, rather than offering a typical "search" function, it works in a "narrowing down" sense where you start with a larger topic and click into smaller sub-topics until you find the information you're looking for.
The website for the Legislative Assembly of BC provides its own “how to” section with tips on searching and navigating the website and performing successful searches. The website provides an overview of each session of parliament, starting with the current session. Under “Previous Parliaments,” you can access records organized by parliament, session, and year:
How To Search The search bar appears in the top right-hand corner of all pages: "Search Legislative Documents." If you select "Advanced Search" just below it, you will be taken to an in-depth advanced search page with a variety of sorting options. You can choose between "Documents and Proceedings," "Committees," "Hansard," and "Library" and refine your searches within those.
CivicInfo BC is a privately owned company that hosts a variety of information from the local government sector.
Features:
directory of local governments
career postings
legislative calender
search by organization
grants directory
CivicInfo BC also keeps an index of social media resources within local government: links to social media policies and directories for various regions around BC, as well as the Facebook and Twitter accounts for various municipalities.
QP Legaleze is legislative research tool published by the British Columbia Queen's Printer. It offers its own video tutorials. You can limit your searches in the following areas:
Regulations
Public Statutes
Private, Special and Local Statutes
Historical Supreme Court Rules
The British Columbia Gazette
Corporate Registry Notices
Or, select “the complete QP legaleze package” to access all resources simultaneously:
How To Search Simply select the search tab. You can perform a "quick search" using Boolean operators, or narrow your search terms to a certain "field" or specific areas of a document, such as:
statues
regulations
table of legislative changes
historical tables
supplements
rules of court and related enactments
private, special, and local statutes
Municipal & Cross-Jurisdictional
Municipality websites Most municipalities in Canada have their own website with information & archives specific to their region. For example, the District of Saanich website offers a variety of resources on a municipal level. The "I want to . . ." tab provides navigation for services provided, as well as viewing access to bylaws, policies, and other information:
Under "Discover Saanich" there are several sections for research: arts, heritage and archives, as well as demographic information about the Saanich region, including PDFs of statistics.
Embassy is an independent political news-source which provides information on popular topics of discussion, policy briefings, immigration, trade, defence, development, diplomacy.
How To Search 1. The search bar is located on the top right corner of each page. Plugging in a keyword draws up related articles with the keyword in either the title or the body of the article. You can sort through articles by date by clicking on the links in the Data Range table to the left of the page. You can also refine your search to a particular author by clicking Specific Author within the Data Range.
2. Embassy also has an Archives link above its search bar that allows you to easily search within past editions by browsing through years and months. These past editions can be viewed and saved as PDFs to be read at your convenience.
Additional Resources
The UVic Library has multiple resources available to provide assistance and research guides. A full list of the available guides may be found here. Carol Rollins is Macpherson Library’s political science, government & law librarian. Her blog on government publications is kept up-to-date on press releases and information relevant to students.
Quickscribe is a Victoria-based, privately operated company that is not affiliated with any government agency. It offers access to British Columbia legislation in a variety of formats. Quickscribe offers a variety of unique services:
Features:
Full text access to all Statutes and Regulations, as well as federal legislation relating to the Criminal Code of Canada; Orders in Councils, Bills, repealed laws, point-in-time archived legislation, and other documents.
Canadian Research Index is a multidisciplinary database that focuses on periodicals covering Canada and Canadian issues with reference to the arts, business, humanities, health, social sciences, sciences, and current affairs.
Features:
search as full texts, peer reviewed, scholarly journals, or all.
save, manage, and organize the content and supporting content
add documents, searches, tags, shared lists, search alerts, RSS feeds and more.
Parliament Now Each daily edition features local, national and international event listings, upcoming committee meetings, summaries of both governmental and non-governmental press releases, a detailed look at routine proceedings as well as a legislative outlook for the following day.
scholarly journals, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines
ability to save, manage, and organize content
add documents, searches, tags shared lists, search alerts, RSS feeds and more.
CanLII Canadian Legal Information Institute. CanLII is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. CanLII's goal is to make Canadian law accessible for free on the Internet. This website provides access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
Search Tips
• Identify what area of government is responsible for and may be able to provide the information you are seeking. If you are not sure what the different jurisdictions are within Canada, that information is not difficult to find: try checking Wikipedia or government websites.
• Have a clear goal in mind. It is a near impossible to discover information in government archives “accidentally” or while simply browsing. Know what your research question is and narrow your focus to the appropriate sources.
• Do not be afraid to ask for help! Researching government archives can be a vast undertaking. Librarians like Carol Rollins, or those that offer professional services such as Quickscribe, can be immensely helpful.
Citing Your Data
When you have found the information you need for your research and are unsure on how to cite the material that you have learned, some helpful guides on the appropriate citation can be found within these guides:
Introduction
Table of Contents
Government resources are some of the most valuable sources of information for professional writers. More often than not, there is information on government websites or in government archives that is simply not accessible elsewhere. Some information that is available via government resources includes: laws and legislation, press releases, statutes and regulations, historical documents, research and statistics compiled by governmental agencies, and more.
Government resources are primarily regarded as highly official and reliable sources: though some fact-checking may be required, it is generally assumed that the information acquired from official government resources is accurate and reliable.
Information in government archives also has the benefit of being both very current—stories not yet picked up or otherwise overlooked by the media—or very old, with records dating back further than it may be possible to research using other methods.
Types of Resources
There are various types of resources available for government research. The primary source for governmental information is government websites and archives. In Canada, these can be divided into three categories: provincial, federal, and municipal. Some resources fall into more than one of these categories, and are therefore cross-jurisdictional.
Federal
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada website is a primary resource for information about the Government of Canada and its programs, services, initiatives, and products. It is updated on a continuous basis to match the evolving requirements of its Canadian and international public.How To Search
1. As a starting point, the Government of Canada’s website has a site map link at the bottom left of the home page that directs you to a series of links that make up the entirety of the website. They are organized by headings such as:
and categorized by more specific subheadings such as About Government, Elections, Federalism, etc.
TIP: A professional writer who is interested in researching an aspect of Canada’s government should start in the Research Centre by browsing the keywords in the A to Z Index.
2. To use the search bar, you simply plug in a keyword of what you are trying to get more information on. By pressing enter, several pages of links with the keyword highlighted will show up for you to browse through.
If this does not yield the kind of results you are looking for, there is an Advanced Search link beneath the search command. The Advanced Search page helps narrow your search by asking for the following information:
A professional writer who is familiar with these search techniques will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their searches.
Canada at a Glance
Canada at a Glance is a booklet put out by Statistics Canada that is also available online at www.statcan.gc.ca. It is a resource for information including the current demographic, education, health and aging, justice, housing, income, labour market, household, economic, travel, financial, agricultural, international trade, and environmental statistics. The database is updated yearly and is a useful resource for quick access of Canadian statistics and international comparison.
How To Search
The search bar is a located underneath the website’s header. Clicking it will take you to the search page which has several options to both specify your search and offer resources that inform you on how to make a better search.
1. One of these resources is the Advanced search link that takes you to a page where you can make a more specific, concrete search. The advanced search offers options such as:
Include pages with:
and limits the search to:
as well as sorting pages according to their publication dates.
2. Another resource is Help: Search the site which explains:
Each category of explanation includes step-by-step instructions on how to conduct the search with images visually representing the steps, along with specific examples to show what kind of results appear for certain types of searches.
TIP: The search commands information teaches you the best way to go about a search that is useful for nearly all search engines, including Boolean operators, phrase search, and Metadata field searches.
3. The Help: Search the site page includes a link titled Search brochure, which is a red rectangular link at the top right of the page. This feature is a summarized 12-step informational brochure on how to make an effective and efficient search with a PDF download.
4. The Specialized search tools page is a collection of links to more specialized resources, categorized by: find data, find publications and reports, and helpful tools. Each link is connected to a URL and is accompanied by a sentence description of what the resource contains.
5. Finally, there is the Statistics Canada Thesaurus which is a list of subject terms that Statistics Canada uses to describe its information resources. To browse, you can use a search bar, select subject alphabetically, or browse by subject. The About the Thesaurus link offers information about the scope, language, term format, and structure of the thesaurus.
Provincial
Province of BC Website
The website for the Province of BC has two immediate options for navigation: a "carousel" navigation bar, and an option for searching services, forms, and ministries. The carousel offers top-lvel information such as news sources from the BC Newsroom, as well as access to BC government information, job plan, employment, and agendas.The A-Z index allows you to search within Services, Forms, and Ministries. However, rather than offering a typical "search" function, it works in a "narrowing down" sense where you start with a larger topic and click into smaller sub-topics until you find the information you're looking for.
Legislative Assembly of BC Website
The website for the Legislative Assembly of BC provides its own “how to” section with tips on searching and navigating the website and performing successful searches. The website provides an overview of each session of parliament, starting with the current session. Under “Previous Parliaments,” you can access records organized by parliament, session, and year:How To Search
The search bar appears in the top right-hand corner of all pages: "Search Legislative Documents." If you select "Advanced Search" just below it, you will be taken to an in-depth advanced search page with a variety of sorting options. You can choose between "Documents and Proceedings," "Committees," "Hansard," and "Library" and refine your searches within those.
CivicInfo BC
CivicInfo BC is a privately owned company that hosts a variety of information from the local government sector.Features:
CivicInfo BC also keeps an index of social media resources within local government: links to social media policies and directories for various regions around BC, as well as the Facebook and Twitter accounts for various municipalities.
QP Legaleze
QP Legaleze is legislative research tool published by the British Columbia Queen's Printer. It offers its own video tutorials. You can limit your searches in the following areas:Or, select “the complete QP legaleze package” to access all resources simultaneously:
How To Search
Simply select the search tab. You can perform a "quick search" using Boolean operators, or narrow your search terms to a certain "field" or specific areas of a document, such as:
Municipal & Cross-Jurisdictional
Municipality websites
Most municipalities in Canada have their own website with information & archives specific to their region. For example, the District of Saanich website offers a variety of resources on a municipal level. The "I want to . . ." tab provides navigation for services provided, as well as viewing access to bylaws, policies, and other information:
Under "Discover Saanich" there are several sections for research: arts, heritage and archives, as well as demographic information about the Saanich region, including PDFs of statistics.
Embassy
Embassy is an independent political news-source which provides information on popular topics of discussion, policy briefings, immigration, trade, defence, development, diplomacy.How To Search
1. The search bar is located on the top right corner of each page. Plugging in a keyword draws up related articles with the keyword in either the title or the body of the article. You can sort through articles by date by clicking on the links in the Data Range table to the left of the page. You can also refine your search to a particular author by clicking Specific Author within the Data Range.
2. Embassy also has an Archives link above its search bar that allows you to easily search within past editions by browsing through years and months. These past editions can be viewed and saved as PDFs to be read at your convenience.
Additional Resources
The UVic Library has multiple resources available to provide assistance and research guides. A full list of the available guides may be found here. Carol Rollins is Macpherson Library’s political science, government & law librarian. Her blog on government publications is kept up-to-date on press releases and information relevant to students.
Library Resources
• Research guide to Canadian federal government publications.
• Publications from the Province of British Columbia.
• UVic library’s google search bar that restricts search results to only Canadian government websites.
Further Resources
Quickscribe online
Quickscribe is a Victoria-based, privately operated company that is not affiliated with any government agency. It offers access to British Columbia legislation in a variety of formats. Quickscribe offers a variety of unique services:
Features:
Canadian Research Index
Canadian Research Index is a multidisciplinary database that focuses on periodicals covering Canada and Canadian issues with reference to the arts, business, humanities, health, social sciences, sciences, and current affairs.
Features:
Parliament Now
Each daily edition features local, national and international event listings, upcoming committee meetings, summaries of both governmental and non-governmental press releases, a detailed look at routine proceedings as well as a legislative outlook for the following day.
Features:
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Complete (CBCA):
CBCA is Canada's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database.
Features:
CanLII
Canadian Legal Information Institute. CanLII is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. CanLII's goal is to make Canadian law accessible for free on the Internet. This website provides access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
Search Tips
• Identify what area of government is responsible for and may be able to provide the information you are seeking. If you are not sure what the different jurisdictions are within Canada, that information is not difficult to find: try checking Wikipedia or government websites.
• Have a clear goal in mind. It is a near impossible to discover information in government archives “accidentally” or while simply browsing. Know what your research question is and narrow your focus to the appropriate sources.
• Do not be afraid to ask for help! Researching government archives can be a vast undertaking. Librarians like Carol Rollins, or those that offer professional services such as Quickscribe, can be immensely helpful.
Citing Your Data
When you have found the information you need for your research and are unsure on how to cite the material that you have learned, some helpful guides on the appropriate citation can be found within these guides:
Citing Canadian Government Documents APA Style
Citing Web Sources: Organizational, Governmental, and Legal
Statistics Canada Citation Guide